A general thread to discuss Trump

[Seabag]

The whole not conceding thing just happens to coincide with Trumps new PAC.

https://apple.news/AUS1pHvMxRr2gB0dxXjMbTA

Basically they?re aggressively soliciting donation for a defence fund to fight the election results.

Trump?s solicitation website carries a banner headline that says ?OFFICIAL ELECTION DEFENSE FUND? and ?CONTRIBUTE NOW.?

But read the small print and it turns out that only donations over $8000 actually go to the fund, the rest can be dispersed as they see fit to other needs. So basically Trump is pulling one last stunt to get cash from his supporters.

And kicking the can down the road buys them more time.

What a guy, he?s consistent, I?ll give him that.

[JohnL]

Why are some populists always after money

or Grifting as they call it. :)

[diable rouge]

You've only got to look at Yaxley-Lennon's flash house, car, foreign holidays and new set of teeth to see where the 'fighting fund' donations go. Lawrence Fox is a posher version of the same grift, plenty of mugs will doff their caps and fall for it, again.

Trump is skint, his campaign run out of money, had to pull TV ads in the closing weeks, even the legal team he's now using aren't the expected litigation big hitters. He'll also need money for upcoming legal bills...his defence team. :)

[malumbu]

Perhaps Y-L could loan him some dosh.

[Blah Blah]

Narcissists have no compulsion around taking what they want from others, money included. They only surround themselves with people who are useful to them, and drop them as soon as they are no longer of use.

[KidKruger]

Where is Lee Harvey-Oswald when we need him.

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

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> Where is Lee Harvey-Oswald when we need him.

We needed him four years ago ....

[malumbu]

Bad taste guys but if you want a really effective killer this chap would be ideal

https://thebestpictureproject.wordpress.com/tag/javier-bardem/

[JohnL]

He's gone all grey. Is that planned or is he that stressed he forgot to dye it.

[KidKruger]

Did anyone watch the White House press conference last night (around 9.15pm) ?

Trump is acting completely as if it is BAU, he focused entirely on fighting Covid and all of his advisors who spoke were grossly over complementing Trump on his amazing leadership over the last four years and for saving the American people from Covid.

Whole thing was fantasy.

He also took credit for the vaccine which Pfizer have repeatedly stated the US government had nothing to do with.

So Trump emphasised the US government had paid $1.95 billion to Pfizer (even though that money was just usual ongoing partnership for non-covid related work).

But I?m sure the Republican lapped it up.

[diable rouge]

Yep, his presser was bizzaro central, meanwhile his hangers-on are taking the Emperor's New Clothes to a new level, fully expect them to continue with some kind of 'virtual presidency' once Biden takes office...

[Seabag]

If I?m honest, I?m strangely enjoying the madness. Like ?peeking between my fingers? at the scary bits in a horror film kind of way.

Maybe the White house will go up in an inferno, and Trump will stager out all ablaze, like a human torch. He?ll eventually slump to his knees and the rain will pelt down.

All that will be left is a blazing skyline and a carbonised figure (teeth still intact) smouldering in the downpour.

[Blah Blah]

Ha Ha Seabag. Someone should animate that, like South Park.

That weird press conference reminds me of how Trump sycophants also credit Trump with defeating ISIS, when in fact, it was intervention by Putin that helped Assad drive ISIS out. This is the deal with Trump - alternate realities. But I also think that Trump has now accepted the election is lost, and while he remains angry about it, won't concede etc, the direction has clearly shifted to the image he wants to leave the Whitehouse with. The man who saved the world from Covid in this episode. This is typical narcissist hero/victim playbook material from him. Who knows where he goes next.

[KidKruger]

Fecking weird.

To weird for now or ever.

[Seabag]

Blah Blah Wrote:

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> Ha Ha Seabag. Someone should animate that, like

> South Park.

Exactly that, or an episode of the Simpsons with Nigel Farage in the wig as sideshow Bob

[KidKruger]

Pretty mental what?s going on.

The guy is actually asking Michigan Republicans to ignore the vote count and declare him the winner.

They have issued a statement confirming they will follow normal process and work to defend against corruption.

Good for them, but what a position to be put in by the POTUS.

Shameful.

[Blah Blah]

Trump is deranged. His twitter feed is a succession of false claims. The was on the golf course when he should have been attending a G20 Pandemic Summit online. January can not come quick enough. America needs a President, not a lazy, entitled narcissistic ohild.

[KidKruger]

There needs to be a mechanism in place to prevent this behaviour going forward.

I understand Steve Mnuchin (Fed Treadury ?) has limited/ended various welfare funding to the most needy and the Dems can?t do anything about it until Jan2021..

Using the American PEOPLE as the battleground for Trump?s tantrums.

Insanity.

[Blah Blah]

This was always the worry. How much vindictive damage Trump would do before actually leaving office if he lost the election? Personalities like his advocate for total war. He cares not a jot if other people are destroyed by his personal ambition. But even more tragic is seeing ordinary people buy into that. Trump got more votes than any president in History. Biden had to get millions more to win that office. America is broken in more ways than the world realises I think.

[Effra]

Blah Blah Wrote:

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> But even more tragic is seeing ordinary

> people buy into that. Trump got more votes than

> any president in History. America is

> broken in more ways than the world realises I

> think.

American needs jobs for the ordinary people. They put their faith in Trump to create jobs and to alleviate the problem of decline in manufacturing in the last 40 years. Massive swathes of manufacturing have been off-shored to places like China, Mexico etc and so millions of low to semi-skilled jobs have disappeared.

I travelled quite a lot in the States in the 80's & 90's and still have vivid mental images of the derelict steel mills and factories.

The USA doesn't have the safety nets and cushions that exist in Europe so when you are out of a job over there, it becomes really grim very quickly. The golden era from WW2 thro' 1975 will never be achieved again but the decline can be reversed through job creation. If they can't engineer that then greater fissions and unrest may well be inevitable.

[Blah Blah]

That is an interesting perspective Effra, but as you point out, the USA's global dominance was short lived, compared to European Empires.

The truth is that capitalism is in an extreme form, in a time where oligarch philanthropy is no longer acceptable. So it either comes back to the center ground, or it fails, with all the end game chaos that ensues. Back to the masters of the universe to decide I guess (and yes I jest).

[Effra]

The USA dominance still exists, just, and I wouldn't have associated the USA with oligarchs. The vast majority of US businesses are owned by multiple shareholders, pension funds etc etc. However there is a huge amount of philanthropy - particularly in the educational and sports sectors. OK, much of this may be prompted by tax concessions but nonetheless, as a percentage of GDP, it's much higher than in any other country I know.

Most of the great upheavals in the 150 years have come about because of poverty, deprivation and unemployment. Think of Germany in the period 1929-1933 which gave rise to the Nazis. Also the Russian revolution; it would have happened in North Korea but the totalitarian regime there has total control and was able to crush any dissent.

Trump promised jobs and hence the low to middle income demographic voted for him in 2016 and again in 2020 in the belief that he could deliver. Largely he failed but he was able to squeeze a more beneficial trading relationship with China.

The long term aim must be to pull back manufacturing that was off-shored to China and Mexico. Take iPhones for example, they are all made in China and Apple makes massive margins because of the low production costs in Zhengzhou. Production could be brought back and Apple would still make billions every year. It's the same with vehicles and vehicle parts where massive volumes are made in Mexico and China.

Bringing back manufacturing is the only way to create jobs and maintain stability. To do this on a meaningful scale, the US needs to become more protectionist, ditch WTO terms with China and sign up trade deals with nations. China has abused the WTO rules and how the USA (with the best intentions) must now regret inviting China to become a member of the WTO!

On the positive side, despite what Trump has done or not done, billions of people around the world still want to emigrate there. ?Can?t be all that bad!

[JohnL]

Trump was temporary as dictated by democracy :) The US is obviously a better place to live than many nations .. but that doesn't mean it shouldn't try and be better under Biden.

[Effra]

Sure, Trump was a single term President but it was a very close run thing and he polled millions more votes than in 2016. In 2016 he had a simple message of more jobs, less illegal immigration, repeal Obama Care, cut taxation and limit China's trade dominance. These five aims resonated with a large part of the electorate - even though many of them thought (correctly) that he was a fairly dumb narcissist.

The odds are that Biden will be a single term President also because he does project clear policy objectives. He is a classic middle-road politician who will be a weak appeaser. He's another Jimmy Carter. If he can't get the red necks working and happy again, it could all get messy. They are all armed and angry.

[diable rouge]

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